Vehicle body construction



Sept. 18, 1945. F. M. REID 2,384,965

VEHICLE BODY CONSTRUCTION Filed March 13, 19444 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /fg INVENTOIL Tran/V575.

Sept. 18, 1945. F. M. REID VEHICLE BODY CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-sheet 2 Filed March 13, 1944 Patented Sept. 18, 1945 .2,334,965 vacca nonr eoNsraUcTroN Frederick M. Reid, nen-oit, Mich., signor m Fruehauf Trailer Company, Detroit, Mich., a

corporation of Michigan Application Maren 13, 19.44, serial No. 526,191

4 claims. (ol. 29e-2s) This invention relates to side constructions for vehicle bodies, and particularly to an assembly oi panels of predetermined form and in a predetermined manner to construct the side portions of a body.

In the drawings, the invention is shown by way of illustration as applied to a trailer body. The

side and end walls of such body are formed by a plurality of sheet metal panels suitably secured together. to provide strength, each panel containing a plurality of narrow channel sections, each projecting in the same direction from the plane of the panel or web thereof, and spaced by wide web portions. A short fiange is provided in the plane f the web portion along the channel at one edge of the sheet and a wide flange or web extends along the edge of the channel on the opposite end of the sheets. 'Ihe wide edge ange or web is overlapped by the channel and narrow ilange of an adjacent panel, and are welded together at each side of the corrugation to form a unit construction. The web at one end oi the panel spans the open face of the channel of the overlapped panel of the panel spanning the end corrugation, the

ends of the screws will not be visible on the outside of the trailer body. The panels are reinforced at the top and bottom by rub rail elements which are secured thereto in the conventional manner. A reinforcement, preferably in the form of an angle, is welded to both the upper and lower ends of the panels of each wall and each wall rests upon a bottom rub rail element and the outer face of each corrugation in the wall and an outer face of the rail are joined thereto preferably by welding. It is, of course, within the purview of the invention toemploy the gusset plates at the top ofthe body for joining the panels to the top rail element if desired.

An object of the invention is to form the sides of a body from a plurality of sheets having spaced corrugated portions presenting inwardly'of the body, with the corrugation near one end of the sheet spanned 'by a web at the end of an adjacent sheet to formpa box section structure therewith having the web so disposed as to provide holding The 'panels are vertically corrugated are invisible Vfrom the outer face of the assembly. A further object of the invention is to secure panels against the inner face of a plurality oi corrugated metal panels which form a' joint at the portions of the assembled panels at which a web of one panel spans one end corrugation of an adjacent panel through which the holding means for the inner panels extend when applied from thefinside oi the body.

A still further object of the invention is to secure pre-formed gusset plates to the rub rail and the web of the corrugations by spot welding predetermined .oil'set areas which are in contact therewith.

Other objects and features ofthe novelty of the l invention will be speciiically pointed out or will become apparent when referring, for a better understanding of the invention, to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:i

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a trailer having a body constructed in accordance with the present invention; .l

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, in elevation. of a portion of the trailer body illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 2, taken on the line 3-3 Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the 'structure illustrated in Fig. 2, taken on the line 4--4 thereof;

' been pre-formed .to have the spaced corrugations I I joined by the webs I2. V At the right-hand end` of each sheet, as viewed in the figures, a short flange I3 is provided, while at the left-handend an extending web I4 is employed. The endmost corrugation l5 of one sheet overlies the end portion of the extended web I4 of an adjacent sheet and is spot welded or otherwise secured thereto along the end flange I3 and the web I2 adjacent to the end corrugation Il. The lportion I6 of the web i4 spans the open face of the corrugation l5 and forms a box section construction therewith. 'Ihe length oi the extended web portion il is such means for the screws of the innerpanels which that after the corrugtion l5 overlies th@ end portion thereof, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, the center line of the corrugation I5 and that of the adjacent corrugations'rll will be equal and l the junction between the sheets will not be readily into the web portion I6, as illustrated in Fig. 4,

for securing the panels I'I against the'inner faces of sheets I0. The en ds of the panels I1 are thereby supported at the reinforced corrugations I5 of the assembled sheet, with the ends of the screws I9 invisible from the exterior of the body.

At the corners of the body, the sheets I 0 are bent at right angle and overlap with the end and side sheets in the same manner, as the sheetsk are progressively assembled to form the body Walls. The last sheet to be applied extends under the edge of the first sheet and over the edge of the last sheet assembled, and a like construction is provided at all points throughout the ends, corners, and sides of the body.

The sheets rest upon a flange 2i of a bottom rub rail 22 and are secured in position thereon by the stamped gusset plates 23 which are provided with offset areas 2d which engage the web portions 25 of the corrugations il and to which they are secured in a suitable manner herein illustrated as by spot welding. The gusset plates have the offset areas 2t horizontally disposed along the bottom edge which engage the flange 2'1 of the rub rail 22 to which they are secured by suitable means herein illustrated as by welding. The gusset plates have the embossed central portion 3d struck upwardly from the edge flange 2li so as to have the offset areas 2d and 2S disposed in the plane of the edge ange 2d. The tapered side walls of the offset areas 2li and 26 guide the welding electrode to position it directly against the areas and thereby locate the points at which the weld is to occur. These offset areas not only locatel the welds but make certain that the desired number of welds will be made on each gusset plate. k

An angle-shaped element 3l is welded to the inner faces of the web portions I2 of the sheets and to the flange 2l of the rub rail 22 to provide further support thereof. The upstanding flange '32 of the element 3i' has the bottom rabbeted edge of the panels I'I secured thereto by suitable means, herein-illustrated as by the screws 3Q. A similar angle-shaped element 35 is welded to the inner faces of the web portions I2 at the top of the sheets I@ providing a vertical web portion 36 to which the top rabbeted edge of the panels Il is secured by the screws 3d. The top rub rail 31 is welded to the web portions 25 of the corrugations l I along the top of the body and is also provided with a horizontally extending flange 38 which mates withv and is welded to the flange 39 .of the angle member 35., A fiat or arcuately floor section which, in turn, is supported upon such vehicle frame.

s They preferred method'of constructing a body as above explained is as follows. Preferably each side or end wall is rst built up as a unit and then applied to the oor section or frame and secured thereto. In building up 'such a side or endy wall the sheets or panels I0 for such end wall are welded one to the other in the overlapped relation as described, such welding being possible by spot Welding and, therefore, permitting the operation to be performed quickly and cheaply. Next the angles 3l and 35 are positioned at the lower and upper edges of such connected sheets or panels and are 'welded in place. The upper rail 3l is then applied and welded in place, the gusset members 23 are then welded to the outer faces of the corrugatlons, and the whole wall in such'condition and as a unit is then applied in place upon the rub rail 22 upon which the lower ends of the gussets 23 are welded to the rub rail thereby to complete the securement ofv all of these parts together. When all of the side and end walls have thus been built up and applied they are in turn secured together, the inner panels Il are applied, and then the top applied to complete the body. On the other hand if desired the panels I1 maybe applied p rior to mounting the walls on the rub rail 22.

It will be appreciated that by this method of assembly and because of the construction explained an extremely rigid body can be constructed in a relatively sh'ort period of time and that the body thus constructed will be not only pleasing in appearance but will be strong and rigid and relatively economical to build.

Having thus described my invention, what claim by letters Patent is:

l. In a vehicle body, in combination, aside 40 rail having a stepped upper surface providing a lower outer and an upper inner horizontally directed surface joined by an intermediate vertically directed wall, a plurality of vertically directed sheets each formed to provide a plurality of vertically directed laterally spaced outwardly oiset inwardly presented channel portions, a relatively narrow flange portion projecting laterally from the channel portion at one edge of said sheet and a relativelyv wide flange portion projecting laterally from the channel portion at the opposite edge of said sheet, said sheets being arranged with said Wide flange of one extending under said narrow flange and its corresponding channel portion and being xed thereto to forni a box section, the lower ends of said sheets resting upon said upper inner surface of said side rail, and means fixing said sheets to said side rail, comprising a plurality of gusset plates, each gusset plate overlapping an outer face of one of said channel portions and said intermediate wall of said side rail and being rigidly xed to both thereof. Y

2. In a vehicle body, in combination, a siderail having a stepped upper surface providing a lower outer and an upper inner horizontally directed surface joined by an intermediate vertically directed wall, a plurality of lvertically directed sheets each formed to provide a pluralityzof `vertically directed laterally spaced outwardly offset inwardly presented channel portions, v'a relatively narrow ange portion projecting laterally; from the channel portion at one edge-of said sheet and a relatively Awide ange portionprojecting laterally from the channel portionf'at the opposite 75 edge of said sheet, said sheets being arranged with said wide flange .of one extending under said narrow flange and its corresponding channel por tion and being fixed thereto to form a box section,

an angle member arranged with one flange thereof` in fiat contacting relationship with respect to the inner faces of said sheets over the combined width of the same and fixed thereto with its remaining each formed to providea plurality of vertically zo directed laterally spaced outwardly odset inwardly presented channel portions, a relatively narrow flange portion projecting laterally from the channel portion at one edge of said sheet and. a relatively wide flange portion projecting laterally from the channel portion at the opposite edge of said sheet, said sheets being arranged with-said wide flange of one extending under said narrow flange and its corresponding channel portion and being fixed thereto to form a box section, an angle member arranged with one flange thereof in fiat contacting relationship with respect to the inner faces of said sheets over the combined width of the same and xed thereto with its remaining flange flush with the lower ends of said sheets and projecting inwardly therefrom. a second angle member extending over the combined width of said sheets in embracing relationship to the upper inner corners of the same, said lower ends 'of said sheets and said remaining iiange resting upon said upper inner surface of said side rail, and means arranged in overlapping relation with respect to the joint between said sheets and rail rigidly xed to both thereof.

4.' In a vehicle body, in combination, a side rail having a stepped upper surface providing a lower outerv and an upper inner horizontally directed surface joined by an intermediate vertically directed wall, a plurality of vertically directed sheets each formed to provide a plurality of vertically directed laterally spaced outwardly offset inwardly presented channel portions, a relatively narrow flange prtion projecting laterally from the chan.. nel portion at one edge of said sheet and la. relatively wide flange portion projecting laterally from the channel portion at the opposite edge of said sheet, said sheets being arranged with said wide flange of one extending under said narrow flange and its corresponding channel portion and being fixed thereto to form a box section, an angle member arranged with one flange thereof in at contacting relationship with respect to the inner faces of said sheets over the combined Width of the same and ilxed thereto with its remaining flange flush with the lower ends of said sheets and projecting inwardly therefrom, said lower ends of said sheets and said remaining flange resting upon said upper inner surface of said side rail, means arranged in overlapping relation with respect to the joint between said sheets and rail rigidly fixed to both thereof, inner panels arranged against the inner faces of said sheets and abutting 

